Drought decrees: how can manufacturers protect themselves?

Increasing in number and frequency, drought decrees have a direct impact on manufacturers, who use water at every stage of their processes, as an ingredient, to cool equipment or to clean installations. In the event of local water restrictions, production can be slowed down at best, or stopped altogether at worst. Using less and better quality water is now not only possible, but also a necessity, despite some persistent regulatory obstacles.

While the quest for productivity and competitiveness remains central to the running of an industrial site, other concerns are now essential to the smooth running of operations. This is particularly the case when it comes to controlling the environmental impact of production: there are numerous and increasingly stringent regulations, as well as demands from the market in general and consumers in particular.

And carbon emissions are far from being the only measurement criterion: the quantity and quality of water used in production processes are just as fundamental. Industry alone accounts for around 20% of water consumption and 10% of water withdrawals, not counting industrial energy production.

It may not seem intuitive, but water is present at every stage of industrial production: production water (ingredient water, process water), utility water (water treatment plants, boilers, closed circuits) and so on. Cumulatively, no less than 1,000 litres of water are consumed to produce a glass of milk, 8,000 litres for a pair of jeans and 450,000 litres for a car.

Historically, and depending on their geographical location and their needs, factories have used water from the drinking water network, or drawn from the natural environment (surface water or boreholes). But with the threat of drought becoming more and more frequent, alternative solutions must be found or improved. Both for environmental reasons and for the long-term future of the company itself.

Awareness of this issue on the part of industry itself and the public authorities is nothing new, and a number of regulations have gradually come to govern the use of water, particularly since the 1990s. For example, article R214-85 of the French Environment Code governs water withdrawals and discharges into the natural environment, supplemented by the decree of 2 February 1998 on water withdrawals and consumption and emissions of all kinds from installations classified for environmental protection (ICPE).

More generally, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 and, more recently, Chapter 4 (combating waste and promoting the economy) of the Ecological Transition for Green Growth Act of 2015 have provided a comprehensive, long-term framework for economic players. For manufacturers, however, the main regulatory risks are posed by drought decrees, which can cause real disruption to a company in just a few days, or even lead to a total halt in production. In addition, there is the drought decree of 8 July 2023 concerning ICPEs (installations for environmental protection) that withdraw more than 10,000 m³ per year: for these industrial companies, reductions in water withdrawal can range from 5% ("alert" level) to 25% ("crisis" level).

Aware of these regulatory and economic risks, and above all of the water issues at stake, many manufacturers are now working towards alternative solutions to limit their water withdrawals from drinking water networks or the natural environment, as well as their discharges to treatment plants or aquatic environments.

This is the aim of the Reuse approach: to reduce consumption and reuse water as much as possible between different industrial processes. It can be reused in a short loop during an industrial process, or in a long loop after treatment at a wastewater treatment plant for a new use (washing water, utility water, process water, etc.). This is known as recycling.

By adopting this approach, industries limit the risks of drought decrees in their respective catchment areas, which have a direct impact not only on their performance, but also on other local activities and neighbouring populations.

On the face of it, the public authorities are encouraging manufacturers to do just that. However, the reuse of water, even after treatment, is not always possible. This is particularly the case in the food industry (despite recent developments) and classified installations, where the regulations in force, as set out in the Public Health Code or the Environmental Code, sometimes prevent the implementation of a Reuse strategy: drinking water, ingredient water, baby products, legionella risks, etc.

However, with appropriate treatment, some recycled water can achieve a level of quality equivalent to that of drinking water. The rules are gradually changing and obligations are becoming more flexible. In line with the principles of the Water Plan, for example, Decree 2023-835 of 29 August 2023 (which came into force on 31 August 2023) simplified the procedures for reusing treated wastewater (REUT), with 3 main measures: removal of the 5-year limit on experimental projects (which are too short to amortise the investment), simplification of the procedure for examining applications (simple opinion from the ARS, removal of the annual report to the CODERST) and removal of the conditionality linked to the quality of the sludge for the use of treated wastewater.

This initial lifting of regulatory obstacles is a good start, but still insufficient in the face of the water emergency and the economic and technological efforts of manufacturers and their partners to limit their water consumption throughout the production cycle. In the meantime, there are a growing number of practical and experimental projects being undertaken by manufacturers, which offer encouraging prospects over the next few years for reconciling industrial growth with water management.